A Major American City Is Literally Throwing Away Thousands of Dollars

"I think it was just total negligence."

A major American city with its own fair share of budget problems is literally throwing away money.

An Arizona man said he found a stack of uncashed checks made out to the city of Phoenix in a dumpster.

Their total value? More than $70,000.

David Zorehkey said he was searching for boxes in the recycling bins in a Phoenix parking garage when he came across a stack of sealed envelopes filled with checks for the city, KTVK-TV reported.

Image source: KTVK-TV

The amounts on the 14 checks ranged from $50 to $57,000. KTVK reported that some were from large banks while others were written by individuals. All of them were written either in December 2014 or January 2015.

"They're always complaining about not having enough money for stuff. I'm sure they'd be happy to have an extra $70,000," Zorehkey said.

Investigators are contacting the people and businesses that wrote the checks for possible reimbursement, according to KTVK.

A city official would not comment on why the checks weren't cashed or how they ended up in the recycling bin, citing an ongoing police investigation.